Apartments, Appreciation, & Towels
by temporarystatus
Summary: Because Austin & Ally are supposed to only be best friends but sharing an apartment and walking around in towels makes that ten times harder. (Or the times Austin & Ally have been able to resist each other and the one time they couldn't.) / / Slight OOC ; Auslly


**Apartments, Appreciation, & Towels**

**x**

**Summary: **Because Austin & Ally are supposed to only be best friends but sharing an apartment and walking around in towels makes that ten times harder. (Or the times Austin & Ally have been able to resist each other and the one time they couldn't.) / / Slight OOC

**A/N: **I don't know where this came from actually. Well, it's been in the notes on my phone but I don't know where the idea came from. You can blame this on my desire to note complete my AP homework and Nicole & Kelly (mostly NICOLE) wanting a story. Oops, sorry for the disappointment. :)

Also, holla to my peeps on twitter that helped me out when I asked questions. You guys rock and I love you and this is also dedicated to you.

**x**

_**uno**_

**x**

Ally sighed as she dumped her keys in the bowl on the end table next to the door and dropped her bad beside it. She shrugged off her light sweater and placed it neatly on the coat rack. Her day was long and exhausting and all she wanted was a nice warm bubble bath. Rubbing her temples, she moved towards the refrigerator in the kitchen. She bent down to get a water bottle off of the bottom shelf when she heard a whistle behind her.

"Austin!" she groaned, face red, as she quickly straightened and turned around to face him. She caught his eyes as they quickly traveled back up her body before sending her a grin.

"Just appreciating," he said, putting his hands up in mock surrender. The wolfish grin on his face didn't falter one bit. Ally simply rolled her eyes at him.

One interview a few years back when they were 19, Austin had accidentally let slip out that her appreciated her rather "plump bottom" and had checked her out quite a few times. Embarrassed of the confession being heard around the world, she hid from him and nearly everyone who breathed for almost a week. When he snuck into her small apartment at the time, he told her it was nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed of. If anything, he should be embarrassed of letting the cat out of the bag about how much he truly enjoyed seeing his best friend's figure. That awarded him some hard slaps on the chest and a slightly awkward conversation following.

Since then, it had become like a joke to them (more him than her). He became quite open about his "appreciation" and it managed to fluster her every time, even now at twenty-two.

"Shut up, Austin," Ally said, fighting back a smile as she walked past him and towards her bedroom.

"You love knowing I check you out!" he shouted after her, watching her retreating figure. She only chuckled and offered a waving hand back as a "whatever" gesture.

Fifteen minutes later, Ally found herself relaxing in her bubble bath, the bathroom door locked out of habit. Dez, in desperate need of a restroom, rushed in through the closed door without knocking. Austin rushed into the bathroom following Ally's shriek of fright just as she pulled a towel into the tub to cover herself with. She'd never seen her best friend so angry before.

She leaned her head back against the rim of the tub and sunk her body lower. Her legs, bent at the knee, began to submerge as she stretched herself out best she could. Ally did well, that is, until the back of her knee rubbed against a filmy, rubbery object that seemed to break down with the slightest of moments. At the slightest touch, she jumped up and out of her bathtub, the shivers going down her spine from the creepy feeling.

Hurrying her way to her towel, trying to escape the cold that immediately surrounded her body, she yanked it off of the nearby rack. Austin's pounding on the door in worry jolted her to rush over to the door, stepping on his stupid blue toy boat he used for his baths ("I only take a bath after tour when I need to relax! And if I'm going to relax, I'm going to enjoy it!") and hopping the rest of the way. She wrapped the towel around her body quickly before unlocking the door and wrenching it open.

"Ally, what's going on? Are you hurt? Did someone try to break in through the window? What happened?" Austin asked in a flurry, cupping his best friend's face and inspecting it for any damage.

(He prayed nothing was wrong but he also prayed that he could control himself because his best friend was an attractive female that stood in front of him with wet hair in only a towel and he was human and could hold back only so much.)

"There's – there's something in the tub!" Ally pointed frantically towards the bathtub, pulling away from Austin while simultaneously backing up and pulling her towel tighter. Austin walked towards the Ally's porcelain getaway with caution before rapidly unplugging the bottom so the water would drain out.

Taking slow steps forward, Ally leaned over the edge and expected to see a snake or a snail or _something _living that would give her a justified reason for getting freaked out.

"A PANCAKE?!" she shrieked in disbelief. The brunette turned on her heel and faced the young singer, her anger skyrocketing. "Austin, it took a long time but I've learned to deal with your idea that breakfast in the shower helps you accomplish everything you need to in the morning. But we agreed that you'd clean up after yourself!" She threw her arms up in protest, her towel loosening a bit. "It's disgusting but I've learnt to deal with it since you promised there'd be no mess after your showers!" The placement of her hands on her hips didn't help Austin in the least as her towel fell slightly.

He gulped down a deep breath of air.

"Got – got it," he nodded, barely managing to get the words out. Ally, realizing he was staring at her neckline and wasn't fully paying attention, looked down before pulling her towel up and holding it. With a groan, she stomped down the hallway, Austin's gaze following her retreating figure as her hips moved back and forth. If she hadn't slammed her door shut, Austin was positive he would have run down the hallway and shut it with her.

**x**

_**due**_

**x**

Austin had a bad habit of already walking around their apartment shirtless. Ally learned this quickly when they first moved in together.

Jimmy had been pushing for a world tour and a new album as well as an EP in the time span of only a couple months. With barely any time as is, the two decided that they would get the most writing done if they lived together and collaborated at a piano that would be in the living room any chance they got. Working out well, turning out their best songs yet, the two decided to stick with the predicament, already used to being around the constant presence of the other.

Being prepared for the shirtless look with bottoms took Ally some getting used to but she eventually accomplished it, stopping her face from being tomato red to only just a light pink. So when Austin came out of the shower with just a towel on for the first time, Ally thought she would have been prepared. She wasn't.

In all fairness, her frantic mind was focused more on her mother's surprised visit.

It was a year into the time that they've lived together when it happened. After a day full of meetings with Trish at Starr Records, Ally came home to a messy apartment and her mother, having returned from a trip in South America, plopped on her couch. The older Dawson woman was sitting with her legs crossed at the ankle, hands folded on her lap, and her eyes surveying the living space.

"Mom… hi." Ally said, breathless and surprised. She quickly began picking up the strewn items around the living room, most of which belonging to Austin. "I'm sorry about the mess, I wasn't expecting you. I don't know how many times I've told Austin to clean up after himself too!" Her mother laughed.

"I'm sorry, I know my visit was unannounced but I, well, wanted to surprise you!" Ally looked up from the clutter she'd been collecting in her arms and smiled at her mother. Penny took the mess from her daughter's arms and gently placed it on the couch before enveloping the girl in her arms.

"I missed you," Ally whispered, hugging her mother back. In the past two years, never had Ally felt so much like a child as she did now, embracing her mother. The safety, protection, and love and comfort that came with it was welcomed fully and she didn't want to lose it.

Penny placed a kiss on her daughter's head before saying the same in return. Pulling back slightly after a few peaceful moments, Ally's mother gave her an amused look. "So, you and Austin, huh?" The smile crept its way onto her face and she had no intention of hiding it away. "How come you didn't tell me earlier?"

Ally, confused by her mother's words, furrowed her eyebrows and sat on the couch, her mother following suit. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, the fact you and Austin started dating and are getting serious!" Penny grinned and gently nudged her daughter's shoulder. "Of course, Austin's always been very serious about you so I'm surprised it took him this long to-"

"Mom, we're just friends. He doesn't like me like that and I don't like him like that."

"Oh." The disappointment was clear in her voice. She figured that by now, the singer would have fessed up and admitted his deep love for her daughter already. Although a part of her was glad he hadn't yet because she was back in the U.S. and she'd be able to hear about it the moment it happened.

Oh, she just loved love.

A few minutes later, absorbed in their conversation, the apartment phone rang. The ringing was distant and Ally figured that it was hidden within the mess of Austin's. She dug around, dissembling the neat pile that she had put together in order to reach the phone. A couple days prior, Dez had broken their answering machine and knowing how important calls on their home phone could be, it needed to be answered before it disconnected.

Just as Ally moved to look behind the couch cushion, Austin's voice came from the hallway behind her.

"Hey Ally, it's Trish. She says you weren't answering your cell." Turning around to grab the phone and usher her friend off the line, Ally was greeted with the sight of Austin in his shirtless, muscled glory, wet hair dripping and towel hanging low on his hips. "Mrs. Dawson! Hey, I didn't know you were still here," the blond said from the doorway. Penny only raised her eyebrows and nodded, an amused smirk dancing on her face as she glanced between her daughter and her daughter's best friend.

"Um – uh – I – uh – Thanks Austin," Ally finally muttered, face a bright red as she rushed towards the boy and snatched the phone from his hand. She took two giant steps back because her extremely attractive best friend stood in front of her and the only thing that prevented him from being completely nude was the towel, and did it just fall a tiny bit lower on his hips? She needed to create as much distance between them without it being noticeable because really, she would prefer her mother not watching her jump the man of her dreams (which still seems too long to fit on a necklace).

"No problem!" he shrugged. He fixed his towel, kept his gaze on Ally's body as she walked to the kitchen, and then bid a farewell to Penny before moving down the hall to return to his shower.

Penny glanced at the time before gathering her things. After all, a very faithful, understanding, and patient husband that she deeply cared for still waited for her return. Walking towards her daughter, the older woman snorted, interrupting the ending phone conversation.

"Hm, yes, just friends?" she uttered, suggestive eyebrow moves and hand gestures towards Austin's room were given before she kissed her daughter's head goodbye and left.

Mortified by what her mother suggested she do, Ally sunk to the floor and hung up on Trish, face redder than ketchup.

**x**

_**tre**_

**x**

Ally learned early on in life that inspiration can come at the most random of moments. She was five and sitting in the church at her grandfather's funeral when she came up with the idea of the Butterfly Song. She bounced on her seat throughout the ceremony and couldn't wait to get to the limo (no disrespect to her grandfather who she loved dearly) where her first songbook laid peacefully.

Often times the brunette girl would find herself waking up at all hours of the night just to scribble down an idea and a few lyrics. She would do it on the scrap papers of tests and had even once been accused of cheating when she had nowhere to write it but her hand!

Only once in a blue moon had Ally been inspired in the middle of her shower. Most times, it was just a line or two and she was able to repeat it and remember it until she finished.

Today was the exception.

Out of her natural habit to be prepared, Ally placed a piece of paper and pen on the bathroom counter before stripping and stepped into the warm water the shower offered. Halfway through her conditioning, ideas struck her like lightning. Not just one liners but the entire first verse and possible chorus to what she felt would be a hit song.

Quickly turning off her water, Ally rung out her hair the best she could before grabbing her towel, wrapping it around herself and hurriedly made her way to the pen and paper. Scratches of the point of the pen against the paper and the constant drips of water from her hair echoed around the bathroom until Ally pulled the sheet up in pride.

Jimmy was pressing for a song by the end of the week and with some down time later, she just might be able to finish it!

The songwriter moved out of the bathroom with rapidly, paper in her hand, and with the full intention of stashing it in her songbook for safekeeping (or rather, until she was dry).

The harsh crash into what seemed like soft rock prevented her from doing so. Taking a small step back, her held tilted back slightly so she could look up to see what she ran into, her gaze locking with the dark eyes of her best friend.

She noticed how his eyes trailed down her body, past the end of the towel and down the rest of her legs. His gaze made a return journey upward, stopping on her neck around the same time she felt more water droplets from her hair fall and cascade down her neck. In a split second, Austin no longer stood a foot in front of her but mere centimeters.

His lips met her neck where the water droplet fell and she threw her head back, her left hand releasing the hold on her paper so she could grasp his blond locks. The paper floated down to the floor just as Ally floated up to the sky.

Her back connected with the wall as she grabbed his face to push him back slightly only to connect his lips with her own. Ally felt pure bliss at the feeling of how perfectly her bottom lip fit between Austin's own and how his tongue easily slid its way into her mouth.

"Do you know how long I've held back from doing that?" Austin mumbled, moving to kiss up her cheek to her ear. "Your wet hair with the stupid dripping water was the last straw," he whispered and Ally could only nod. She tugged on his hair in a desperate plea to get his lips to return to hers and he understood, eagerly obliging.

He understood fully well that her repressed feelings matched his own and as his clothes met with her towel on the floor, he could only whisper one thing in her ear, besides his mirrored responses to her "I love you"s: "I am definitely appreciating, right now."

A slap on the arm and a giggle is what he got in response, accompanied by a roll of her doe eyes. He only grinned at her before connecting their lips once more.

They had time to finish the song later.

**x**

**A/N: **To be honest, I really don't like the way this turned out but I just wanted to finish it so I guess I'm satisfied? My apologies to anyone who reads this and it ended differently than what you expected/wanted. Oh well. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it, and review, yeah? Cool, cool. :)


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